Top Chef alum Stefan Richter revamps Santa Monica restaurant, menu

What you see is what you get with “Top Chef” alum Stefan Richter – and his food isn’t any different.

“You either like it or you don’t. But you’ll mostly like it,” Richter said, laughing during a recent night at his Santa Monica restaurant, Stefan’s at L.A. Farm.

Richter was candidly talking about his recently unveiled summer menu — sandwiched between topics like how he loves being a matchmaker and how he and his friends enjoy his backyard sauna. The new menu includes cool and refreshing items from a chilled cucumber soup and house-cured salmon with honey dill mustard to rich truffle arancini and hearty chateaubriand steak and truffle mash.

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Many diners who were enjoying a tart, yet creamy, sweet white chocolate popsicle for dessert during the warm night consider the fresh new menu a celebration of the chic new look of the restaurant, which underwent a makeover that resulted in a remodeled front entrance, hip bar and intimate outdoor patio.

The German-Finnish menu is inspired by Richter’s heritage as well as his American experience, an adventure that began 15 years ago at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Embracing his American side, Richter also plans to serve up a Jewish rye burger he playfully describes as being “like a Big Mac” and his take on pizza (a roasted pear, Bavarian blue cheese, spiced walnuts and arugula flatbread). To wash it down, Stefan’s at L.A. Farm serves American beer and wine as well as an homage to Richter’s homeland with the signature drink “Finnish Me Off,” which is made with Finlandia tangerine vodka, among other libations.

In 2009, Richter bought the Santa Monica restaurant, formally known as L.A. Farm, and has since transformed the space into a dining destination despite being tucked away in the area’s production studio district.

But the restaurant and menu revamp are just among several items Richter has been able to check off on his ever-growing To Do list since entering the celebrity chef scene in 2008.

Richter currently owns and operates several food endeavors around the world aside from Stefan’s at L.A. Farm, including three Stefan’s Steak House locations in Finland and Stefan F. Richter’s European Catering. He said he’s even working on bringing a burgers-and-beer eatery to Finland.

“It’s gonna be fun. Just so fun,” he said, with an almost boy-like glee.

Richter reached celebrity chefdom as the foul-mouthed flirt and runner-up in Bravo’s “Top Chef: New York.”

He recently returned for Season 10, “Top Chef: Seattle,” where he made it to the top five and cooked as a team member for finalist Brooke Williamson. Team Brooke ultimately lost to Kristen Kish, whom Richter affectionately called his “wifey” throughout the show.

Reflecting on “Top Chef,” Richter laughed about his second bout in the intense reality cooking competition.

When asked a few questions about his fellow Top Cheftents, he admitted to “hooking up” with at least one and just had a few words about Josie Smith-Malave, one of Season 10’s most controversial chefs.

“Oh yeah, she was annoying,” Richter said.

But he didn’t elaborate too much, which isn’t a surprise as it is nearly impossible for the chef/restaurateur/celebrity to focus on one topic.

With a devilish smile, Richter put out his third cigarette and teased: “I have a new show now.” He quickly added he can’t reveal much about this future project other than it’s a new reality television show that fans are going to love. The show has been taped in both his homeland of Finland and his American hometown of Santa Monica.

But sitting outside his newly renovated restaurant with friends and customers, Richter emphasized his love isn’t so much for the camera (he made a cameo in “Entourage” in 2010 and is slated to star along with Sylvester Stallone in the upcoming film, “Reach Me”) as it is for his food.

“I wouldn’t be here without the food,” he said. “Everything else is (expletive) extra and fun, but the food is really what it’s about.”